


Tales of Himawari Uzumaki: an S-rank mission

by ladybirdwrites



Series: Tales of Himawari Uzumaki [2]
Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:20:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 18,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25692706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladybirdwrites/pseuds/ladybirdwrites
Summary: As the village is once again faced with a possible threat, Himawari is joined by Shikadai Nara and Sasuke Uchiha in seperating the truth's from the lies in a mission across different dimensions.
Relationships: Nara Shikadai/Uzumaki Himawari
Series: Tales of Himawari Uzumaki [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1863172
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1: enter, Himawari Uzumaki

It was two years after the age of the shinobi had almost ended. Slowly, Konoha, that had been destroyed, was being rebuild. Himawari, who was 14 at the time Isshiki took over Kawaki’s body and almost destroyed the world as a result, was now 16 and one of the youngest jounin in the village. She became one right after the war ended. While her brother stayed behind to fight Kawaki in the ruins of the village, Himawari joined Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru, Shikadai and Sarada in a mission to save her father from another dimension he was trapped in. While Naruto had been able to protect all the villagers and was able to evacuate them to neighboring lands in time, mostly Suna, he had paid a heavy price and was sealed away in a far off dimension and left to die. Only thanks to the help of Kurama, Naruto was able to survive until the help troops arrive.  
Thanks to her efforts in saving her father, Hima, who had turned a chunin just weeks before, was rewarded by becoming a jounin, alongside Shikadai, Boruto and Sarada. The mission also helped her grow a lot closer to Sarada, who had teached her medical ninjutsu following the events with Kawaki and even helped her grow closer to Shikadai, although it still felt a bit weird, knowing he was her brother’s best friend.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Shikadai entered the Hokage’s office. He had no idea why he had been summoned. He was supposed to have a day or two off before going on another mission. He knew the village was tight on forces due to it still recovering from the destruction of the village after the situation with Kawaki, and that Naruto was accepting all incoming missions, many including S-rank missions, but Naruto usually was very good in making sure every shinobi at least had a day of rest after a mission. Shikadai had only returned that same morning from an extremely tiring A-rank mission.

“Shikadai, I’m so sorry to already call you in, but an S-rank mission just came in that is just perfect for your profile. I’ll give you the details of your mission in a bit, were just waiting for your companion to arrive.”

Just at that moment, a soft knock could be heard on the door. The door swung open and a girl came in, with shiny purple hair that he knew so well. She walked in with the confidence fitting for the daughter of the Hokage. Himawari.

“Himawari, welcome” Naruto proclaimed. “You’ll be joining Shikadai on an S-ranked mission. I think the two of you will be perfect for the task.”

Shikadai looked at Himawari from the corner of his eye. Ever since the Naruto rescue mission he had started to see the young Uzumaki in a different light. She had played a huge part in the rescuing as her Byakugan had proven essential in locating the Hokage and the following defeat of the Ôtsutsuki guarding Naruto. One of the things he was most impressed about was her quick thinking and the fact that, unlike her brother, Himawari never rushed into a fight, but rather chose to carefully asses the situation and formulate a plan best suited for ensuring success. He had also discovered that even though they have very different fighting styles, they work together like a charm, which is why he wasn’t really surprised Naruto chose her to come with him.

“There have been rumors going around that another Ôtsutsuki has turned up. Sasuke has confirmed something is going on, although he is still unsure of what exactly is going on at the moment. He has requested for a back-up-squad. After long consideration, I’ve decided to sent the two of you. To be clear, this is an intel gathering mission in the first place, but you’re most likely going to be forced to take action somewhere down the road. Shikadai, you should be able to come up with a strategy in case that happens and I’m counting on you to figure out the enemies weak spot in order to take upmost advantage of it. Himawari, you on the other hand, are one of the most capable shinobi in this village and, as proven during my rescue mission, your Byakugan and overall fighting style are very effective against opponents from the Ôtsutsuki clan. Sasuke will be waiting for you at the border of the land of Birds, from there on, you’ll probably travel to another dimension. Until you reach Sasuke, you’re in command, Shikadai.”

“When do we have to leave?” Himawari asked.

“As soon as Shikadai has fully recovered from his previous mission, so it’s up to him.”

“I understand. I will discuss the details with him than”

Himawari and Shikadai bowed their head and left the room. It was starting to rain outside.

“So.. Shikadai.. As were going to be stuck with each other for quite a while, want to get some ramen at Ichiraku’s to go over the details of the mission?”

“Sure Hima”

Shikadai blushed the moment he realized he called her Hima, instead of her full name. He usually only called her that when Boruto happened to bring her up in a conversation. He glanced quickly at Himawari to see if she in anyway reacted to him calling her by her nickname. She didn’t appear to notice, and if she did, she didn’t appear to mind.

They arrived at Ichiraku’s and took a table in the back of the restaurant. They both ordered the miso pork. It wasn’t unknown that it was her favorite, and considering that Shikadai rarely ate ramen, he just chose it for the convenience.

“So what do you think about this mission” Himawari asked, facing him with her beautiful blue eyes.

“I don’t know, not much detail is known except for the fact that Sasuke needs help. This concerns me though. Sasuke isn’t the type of shinobi to ask help for no reason. We might have to deal with another huge threat and honestly, I’m not sure the village can handle it at this point. I’m also kind of surprised Naruto didn’t assign a medical-nin like Sakura or Sarada to come along with us.”

“Well… I might have an explanation for that final part.” She grinned. She looked so much like Naruto and Boruto when she did that.

“Why’s that?” He asked, snapping out of his dreamlike state. Why did he suddenly notice all these little things about Himawari.

“After our last mission together, I asked Sarada to teach me medical ninjutsu. I was struggling at first but with a little extra help from Sakura, I managed to master it. I’m now one of the top medical-nin in the village, but it’s usually been kept a bit under the wraps, as I’m first and foremost a ‘front-line shinobi’. But anyways, what’s the deal with Chocho and Inojin? It has been ages since you’ve been on a mission with them.”

“Well, you’re the one to talk… Anyways, Chocho joined her mother on a trip to the hidden cloud village. Something about strengthening the bond between our two villages so Chocho and her mother, along with a couple others are going there to teach them some stuff about our village. I don’t really know the details… As for Inojin.. He’s temporarily taking over one of the genin squads after their normal jounin-leader got injured during one of their missions. Apparently one of the genin was a little to reckless in trying to prove he’s the best and their sensei got pretty badly injured saving his little ass.”

Himawari chuckled. It was a cute sound. Their little lunch date had passed quickly and Shikadai was almost sad their bowls were empty. He realized he was enjoying the company of his best friend’s little sister.

“Anyways, Hima, if it’s alright with you, we’ll depart tomorrow at the brick of dawn. That way I can get a bit of rest first, as I had just returned an hour or so when Naruto summoned me.”

“That’s fine by me.” Himawari put down her share of the bill before getting up and walking towards the door. “And Shikadai?” He looked up from his wallet. “Calling me Hima now, are we?” She winked and walked out the restaurant while Shikadai could feel his face warming up.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	2. And the mission begins!

Sasuke was worried. He didn’t like waiting. Especially not when he could feel trouble was coming. He even called in for back-up from the village, something he dreaded doing. He hoped Naruto would make the right choice of shinobi.

As if thinking of Naruto put something in motion, a bird from the Konoha messenger service landed on his arm, carrying a note from his best friend and teammate.

_I’ve sent out Himawari and Shikadai to come help you with the situation. They were the only people I could think off that would be able to help you out in virtually any situation you might find yourself in. Oh and before you start complaining about the fact that I didn’t sent a medical-nin like Sakura-chan or Sarada with them, I did, Hima is one of the most skilled medical ninja in the village. You can thank your wife and daughter for that._   
_\- Naruto_

A small smile escaped Sasuke’s lips. Naruto knew him too well. He’d even go as far as say that Naruto knew him better than even his wife and daughter. He was satisfied with Naruto’s choice for Himawari and Shikadai. The boy was smart, maybe even smarter than Shikamaru, and unlike his dad, had another jutsu to rely on in case his shadows didn’t work. Damn powerful jutsu too. And Himawari.. He had seen her potential during Naruto’s rescue. At first he was opposed to them bringing her as well, but she had proven to be essential for their success. Her Byakugan would be a huge help. He just hoped the two of them wouldn’t take ages to get here.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was early in morning and Shikadai was waiting for Himawari to arrive at the village gate. His mother just returned from a short trip to Suna, to see her brothers.

“Shikadai? What are you doing up so early? Isn’t it supposed to be your day off? I was hoping to spent some time together, it has been awhile.”

“I’m sorry mom, it’s going to have to wait. Lord Seventh send me on an S-rank mission.”

“On your own?”

“No, Himawari will join and we’ll meet up with Sasuke at the border of the land of Birds”

Just as Temari was about to say something, Himawari arrived. She wasn’t wearing her usual yellow top with black shorts, instead wearing a black, long-sleeved t-shirt ending in gloves, black shorts, knee-high socks and her usual shinobi sandals, topped off with a yellow kimono-like jacket, held together with the band of her kunai bag. Shikadai was a bit confused by the sudden outfit-change, but she looked ready for battle nonetheless. Temari noticed how much she looked like Naruto during the fourth shinobi war in that outfit. She smiled a little.

“Oh hello Hima. Shikadai just told me the two of you will departing on a mission together. Take care of him, alright?”

Himawari nodded and Temari left the two of them with a wink and a wave goodbye.

“So…” Shikadai started in a desperate attempt to break the awkward silence. “Are you ready to depart?” It’s going to take us quite a few days before reaching the land of Birds. Did you pack enough food for the way there?”

“Yes Shika, don’t worry about it, let’s leave, shall we?”

With a final nod from Shikadai, the two shinobi departed.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
“Are you worried about this mission?” Shikamaru looked at Naruto with a concerned look on his face. He knew his close friend well, and Naruto definitely wasn’t feeling at ease.

“Yes and no. I’m very well aware of the fact that Himawari and Shikadai are two of the most capable shinobi in the village and it eases my mind knowing Sasuke will be with them, but she’s my daughter, dattebayo. Of course I’m worried.”

“Well maybe you should have waited for the return of team 7, so they could go in a bigger group. Besides, the skill in medical ninjutsu from both Sarada and Mitsuki could have been a huge advantage for this specific mission. It promises to be dangerous and their most likely going to run into trouble, probably getting injured in the process…”

“I know, ‘bayo. It’s mainly why I chose Hima. She’s trained in medical ninjutsu now, by Sakura and Sarada themselves… And besides, aside from Inojin and Chocho, Hima is by far the most compatible with Shikadai, based on fighting style and overall way of thinking.”

“Can’t really argue with that, I’ve seen that with my very own eyes when we went to save your butt. It was almost as if they were meant to fight together. It’s a piece of cake for Hima to take out the enemy once it is trapped by the shadow possession jutsu.”

“She’s grown a lot over the years, dattebayo, she isn’t purely a taijutsu-user anymore, like she used to be back in the day of my rescue mission. You’d be surprised to see how much progress she has made.”

Just as Naruto was about to tell Shikamaru all about Himawari’s training over the past two years, a staff member came in with a bunch of new paperwork for the Hokage to fill in. Naruto sighed in desperation. His work never came to an end.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
They had been running for two days straight. Himawari and Shikadai should reach Sasuke at the border of the land of Birds very soon.

“Hima, lets take a break here. Sasuke won’t have much use of us anyways if we aren’t rested enough to mean something in a fight.”

Himawari immediately dropped on the ground, letting out a big sigh in the process. A small groin left her lift and Shikadai couldn’t help but smile a bit at the sound.

Himawari and Shikadai made themselves comfortable on the ground, not risking to create a fire. They were quite close to the land of Birds and they had no idea how the enemy was grouped. For all they know, they could be located in the land of Birds as well as in the other dimension. “So, Shikadai, how’s your training been going over the past few years. It’s been quite a while since we had an opportunity for a proper conversation.” Himawari’s question snapped him out of his thoughts.

Hima looked at him with her big blue eyes, softly smiling with the setting sun enforcing her beauty. She was right, they didn’t have a conversation since quite a while. Every time he was at their house, Hima was out somewhere training. Even her own brother didn’t know the full extent of it.

“Well, obviously dad has been further teaching me all of our clans jutsu, as well as making me play even more shogi. He thinks it’s important for me to be even better at coming up with strategies than he is. I don’t really mind, though, I quite enjoy playing shogi with dad. Over the past few years mom has been teaching me her jutsu as well. I’m almost as good as she is with a fan, and I’ve even been able to create a few original jutsu of my own, sometimes even combining my dad’s jutsu with my mom’s.. What about you?”  
Himawari’s face lit up with the mention of her training. Shikadai was dying to know what exactly she had been working on these past few years.

“Well after our last mission together, I started wondering whether or not the shadow clone jutsu could be combined with the gentle fist taijutsu. I had tried before, but to no avail. So I asked grandpa and auntie Hanabi, but they weren’t sure about it either. We tried it out and after a while, we figured out how to do it and a lot of hours of training later, I mastered it. Mom also taught me some of her original jutsu, so that was cool. I also really got interested in my heritage, I studied grandpa Minato jutsu and grandma Kushina her past as a Jinchuuriki... They were so awesome.. Oh! Come to think of it!”

Suddenly Himawari grabbed Shikadai’s shoulder. The young man stiffened a bit by the sudden touch from the young Uzumaki, not knowing what her plan was.

“Don’t worry, Shika, it’s part of my new jutsu. I hope I don’t end up having to use it, but it’s a very useful trump card, in case we would ever need it.” She shrugged and smiled.

Shikadai yawned, shortly followed by a yawn from Himawari. They were both tired.

“Go to bed Hima, I’ll take the first watch”. He had barely finished his sentence before noticing that the younger girl had already fallen asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed!


	3. Chapter 3

“Himawari! Get up!” Shikadai yelled. Himawari felt a strong gust of wind passing her. She was immediately aware of the danger surrounding them. A kunai stranded near centimeters of her face.

“Byakugan!”

Himawari quickly scanned the environment, while Shikadai shielded her with his fan.

“One… Two… Three… Four… Five… There’s five of them!”

“Where? We need to take them out!”

But Himawari already wasn’t listening anymore. She knew what she had to do. It was time to see whether or not her training had paid off.

“Shadow clone jutsu!”

Four perfect shadowclones appeared beside her. Shikadai looked at her from the corner of his eye, still shielding her from the attacks that were coming from all directions. Himawari was concentrated, pinpointing the exact location of the enemy. Himawari and the clones each took out a kunai knife. It wasn’t a normal one. It had a funny shape and there were runes written on the handle. Shikadai could swear he had seen a knife like this somewhere before, but couldn’t immediately make the connection. The clones threw the knives at almost the exact same time and suddenly Himawari and her clones disappeared.

“Rasengan!” a unison of five voices sounded.

Dust clouds arose from five different sites in close proximity to their camp spot, of what he assumed to be the locations of the five enemy Himawari was speaking of.

Suddenly the young girl and her clones appeared again, with in tow the five knocked-out criminals. Shikadai finally made the connection of where he had seen the knives before.

“You learned the fourth Hokage’s jutsu!”

Himawari smiled. “Technically, it’s the second Hokage’s jutsu, but yes, I learned it. Pretty cool, right?” She shrugged. All her clones, with the exception of one, disappeared.

“I don’t know who these tugs are, nor do I know why in the world they would attack us, but I’ll just send one of my clones and the thugs back to the village to drop them off for interrogation. Maybe dad can figure out what they were after.”

Shikadai nodded in agreement and started walking towards their backpacks. Himawari’s clone disappeared with the group of tied up criminals in tow, teleporting back to the village.

Suddenly, Himawari stopped in her tracks, noticing the deep cut on Shikadai’s shoulder.

“How did this happen?” She asked concerned, moving his shirt aside so she could closer inspect the wound.

“I got blindsided by a kunai knife. It hid me pretty bad, but I could avoid the other kunai hitting me by using my fan.” Shikadai groined as Himawari examined the wound.

“Shikadai, where is that kunai?” Himawari asked as she was healing the wound. She sounded concerned and Shikadai was bothered with it.

“Just next to our bags, I think, if I’ve calculated the trajectory correctly. Why do you want to know so badly?”

For a moment, Himawari was silent, as she continued to heal his wound. She finally spoke again after picking up the used kunai and giving it a close look.

“It doesn’t appear to be poisoned.” She let out a sigh of relief. If the knife was poisoned, they would have been in a much more awry situation, as Himawari would have been forced to extract the poison, bring it with her until she could safely examine it, and hope that the universal antidote worked and Shikadai wasn’t slowly dying from a poison..

“I think it’s best for us to continue our mission. I have a bad feeling about this.” Himawari said to Shikadai.

“Yeah, same… Although I wished I could have had some sleep first. We’ll just have to put some distance between us and whoever is after us and take another break afterwards.”

“Sounds like a plan to me. Lead the way, Shikadai!”

The two shinobi left their campsite and departed once again for the land of birds, full of worries over the mysterious group of shinobi that attacked them and hoping to find answers once they reached Sasuke.

* * *

Sasuke was getting impatient. They were late. He sensed the area to see if he could pick up any chakra signatures, but he wasn’t sensing any. He started to wonder if something had happened to the two of them while they were on their ways.

“You’re late” he said with an annoyed voice the moment he sensed their arrival.

“That’s on me, I’m afraid. I wanted to make sure we weren’t being followed so I asked Himawari to make a thorough scan of the environment first. We ran into some trouble on the way here and we both have a bit of an awry feeling about it.”

Sasuke wasn’t surprised by this news. He too had seen signs that whoever this apparent Ôtsutsuki person was, he or she wasn’t working alone and had put his or her claws in the land of Birds. There was a very weird vide hanging in the air in this country. Suddenly Himawari softly touched his arm, but before Sasuke even had the time to shot her a questioning look, she started explaining.

“Its my mark for the Flying Rajin jutsu. That way, I can reach you in an instant, should you get in trouble or get injured during battle. I also scanned the area for some well-hidden places we would be able to use as a type of ‘homebase’ while on this mission. I found a cave, checked it out and left one of my kunai there. If one of us gets injured or we’re about to be overwhelmed by enemy forces, I can teleport us there from almost any location. I’m not sure if this jutsu works over different dimensions though, so be prepared to have a back-up plan ready, just in case.”

Sasuke was surprised. He knew from Naruto that Himawari had been training excessively ever since the rescuemission after the Kawaki incident, but he had no idea she had been able to master the fourth Hokage’s jutsu in this short amount of time. Boruto had tried once, but he had failed miserably, he just didn’t have the patience to practice the jutsu until he had completely figured it out. He was used to getting a jutsu down after only a few days of practicing, but apparently, in a way, it was Naruto’s daughter who had the most potential of the two.

“Alright, you two, ready to go? Most of the activity is taking place in one of the other dimensions. We can teleport there with the help of my rinnegan, and come up with a plan once we arrive.”

“Sounds good to me!” said Himawari and Shikadai in unison.

Sasuke opened the portal the dimension of their destination and waited until Shikadai and Himawari reluctantly entered it, joining soon after them and closing the portal before anyone even noticed it was there in the first place.


	4. Into another dimension

The dimension was dark, and it worried Shikadai. Without an extra light source to cause a shadow, he won’t be able to use any of his father’s jutsu and would have to rely entirely on his wind style jutsu. This wasn’t a disaster, but if they were to capture someone to bring back to Konoha for interrogation, it would be easier to do that using his shadow possession jutsu opposed of his wind style jutsu.

“I’m concerned about the lack of light in this place. I won’t be able to use my shadow possession or shadow strangle jutsu like this, and I would prefer to use that jutsu for making a captive.”

“It shouldn’t be that big of a problem, right? You still have your wind style.” Himawari pitched in.

“Yeah.. But still..”

Shikadai thought deeply. He wasn’t sure of the number of enemies and thus struggled to come up with a plan.

“Sasuke, how much do you know about the enemy?” Shikadai asked

“Currently, not much. I do know there is a group, but there isn’t much known about their numbers and the overall information surrounding them is vague. I do know they have a hideout in this dimension, as well as always having members down in our dimension, prominently scattered around the land of Birds. The shinobi that attacked you before are probably members of this group, stationed near the border of the Land of Birds and tasked with intercepting intruders. It is also rumored their leader is around here as well and that their leader is another Ôtsutsuki, but this isn’t confirmed yet.” Sasuke explained.

This bothered Shikadai. He doesn’t like going into a mission without a plan, but with the current circumstances, he would only be able to come up with a basic formation and hope that he has enough time to pass changes through to his teammates.

“Okay, this is what we’re going to do. We don’t know the numbers of our enemy, so I will use my wind style and Sasuke will use his long-range jutsu to keep them at bay until we have a better idea of their numbers. If there are not so many of them, Sasuke will us a fire style jutsu to light up this dimension and will hold it long enough so I can capture the enemy with my shadow possession. Himawari will than take them out using her shadow clones and the gentle fist. If there are to many, we retreat, ask for back-up and wait until back-up has arrived and I have come up with another strategy. Does everyone agree?”

Himawari nodded, but Sasuke looked concerned.

“I like your original idea, but if we’re outnumbered, we might not have the time to wait around for back-up to arrive. It will take to long and by then, the enemy could already have disappeared, never to be found again. Or worse, they could find us and destroy us before back-up is able to arrive.”

“We can you my teleportation jutsu for that. I left a mark in my father’s office, so that eliminates the problem of time. Depending on the number of our allies, it will exhaust me, so that’s another problem…”

“I’m sure I can figure something out about that. If it’s necessary, we’ll let you sit out the battle until the very end, and you just deal with healing minor injuries and finishing the enemy off.”

“Yeah, that sounds like it could work” Sasuke said, but Himawari wasn’t feeling it. She wasn’t about to sit out on all the action and watch as her teammates did all the work for her. Shikadai and Sasuke, noticing her determination, quickly dropped the idea of Himawari sitting out on the battle.

The three shinobi looked grim. They didn’t know what they were getting themselves into, but knew that whatever was waiting for them was not going to be easy and each and everyone of them couldn’t shake the awry feeling…

* * *

The entrance into the enemy’s dimension was.. quite. There wasn’t immediately a sign of enemy presence. Or any presence at all for that matter.

“Byakugan!”

Himawari scanned the environment, carefully looking for even the tiniest evidence of an enemy. She looked everywhere, but couldn’t immediately pinpoint anything.

“I don’t see anything suspicious..” Himawari said while continuously scanning their surroundings. She felt like she was missing something.

“Can you focus on a smaller area, but in greater detail?” Shikadai asked.

Himawari nodded and carefully scanned little area’s at a time, making sure to scan into the greatest detail. Sasuke and Shikadai patiently waited for her the finish. Suddenly, Himawari saw a small inconsistency.

“Sasuke! Can you check what is going on about 47 miles from here to the north-east. I can’t see in great detail, as it’s too far, but I can sense an inconsistency there.”

Sasuke immediately focused his rinnegan to the spot Himawari pointed towards. His eyes grew wide and Himawari knew she was right to assume something was there.

“I can sense a lot of chakra coming from that area.. From different sources. I don’t know how many different sources, they all kind of flow over into each other. We should definitely check this out. This could be where the enemy is hiding.”

The three shinobi looked grim. After a short time of consideration, they all agreed with the idea of checking out the hideout, especially because they wouldn’t be able to get any further without the intel they most certainly would find there.

“Okay, listen up you two” Shikadai said in a soft voice. Himawari and Sasuke turned their attention towards him. “This is the plan.. Sasuke will go first. Thanks to the rinnegan your senses are strong, and you will probably be able to pick up on any danger before even Himawari can pick it up with her Byakugan. You’re in charge of taking care of attacks that come from in front of us. I will go next. In this position I will be able to quickly asses the situation and correct our strategy at any given time. I will be in charge of taking care of attack coming from our left or our right. Lastly, Himawari will close our ranks. She will keep an eye on our surroundings and is responsible for fencing off any attacks from behind us. Now be wary, this strategy is the best we can do with just the three of us, but there is a change we will be blindsided, especially because I have to watch both the left and the right. I’m the weak spot in this strategy. Everyone must be at their highest alert.”

Sasuke and Himawari nodded in comprehension. Shikadai was right. The three of them weren’t enough to make a formation that would protect them from all sides. This was by far the best they could do…

“Anyone any questions?” Shikadai asked, but neither Sasuke nor Himawari spoke up about any concerns. “In that case, Sasuke, please take charge. This is your mission after all.”

“That might be the case, but each of you have qualities that I do not possess. Were all equals here. Be careful, you two.” Sasuke said, giving each of them one last encourage look.

They got into formation and left towards the hideout, not noticing that their presence in the dimension was already picked on by the enemy.

* * *

“They’re here, master” an unknown voice said.

A woman, hidden by the shadows of the walls surrounding her, didn’t even budge by the news. “What are their abilities? Will they be a problem?” the woman asked.

“It’s just three of them, leaf shinobi at first glance. The older man in Sasuke Uchiha. He might cause a problem in battle, but our numbers should be enough to keep them at bay. His two companions are unknown to us, from a younger generation. But the team monitoring the land of Birds hasn’t returned yet and we know these ninja entered the dimension via a portal in the land of Birds. There is a high possibility that our team there was taken out by these two younger shinobi, which would mean we can’t underestimate them, master” the unknown voice answered.

“Go all out. I want them dead. Our secret isn’t ready to be revealed to the world just yet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed!


	5. The battle begins!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I hope you enjoy and thank you for reading! I'm sorry about the late update... Please let me know if there is something about my writing/story that can improve in your opinion (I really would love the feedback). Also, if you have a story that you want me to check out, let me know as well!

Himawari, Sasuke and Shikadai approached the hideout with upmost caution. Himawari was constantly scanning the area around them to make sure they wouldn’t be ambushed and Sasuke was using his rinnegan to see if he could pick up any traces of chakra that Himawari might miss.

“Incoming!” Himawari hissed. Sasuke was already grabbing his sword and Shikadai took out his fan.

Three enemy shinobi approached them, but Himawari had a feeling they were holding something back. The fact that she could not discover what it was, worried her. If it was more forces, she should have been able to pick up on them by now, as well as Sasuke.

“Show yourself!” one of the enemy shinobi said. “We know you’re there!”

The three of them looked at each other, going over their plan in silence before nodding in agreement. Sasuke jumped out of his hiding place first, following the plan and attacking the person who had spoken and who appeared to be the leader of the group of three. When one of the other two jumped in to help, Shikadai blasted her away with a powerful gash of wind. Finally Himawari also revealed herself and took her gentle fist stance, facing of against the final opponent.

Suddenly, her opponent took out a scroll a showed her a devilish smile. Himawari now knew why she couldn’t shake the feeling that something else was coming and they were overlooking something crucial. The man performed some sort of summoning jutsu and hundreds of puppets appeared.

No. Not puppets. People.

“Sasuke! They’re under some kind of genjutsu! Their chakra is disrupted!” Himawari yelled while doing her best to dodge the barrage of attacks coming from the human puppets. Shikadai’s opponent turned out to be an actual puppet user and she summoned her puppets, going in full attack mode. Shikadai was using his wind in an attempt to keep as many puppets and people away from the three of them. Sasuke was occupied with his opponent, that turned out to be an insanely talented water style user. Most of his attacks barely had any effect on the strange man.

“Himawari!” Sasuke yelled, while barely dodging a water bullet. “You must attack the guy controlling these people, that will take them all out at once. If you go at them one by one, than you’ll exhaust your chakra before you can finish them all of!”

Shikadai slammed a puppet that came dangerously close to her. Himawari tried to make her way to the genjutsu user, but he was entirely covered by all of his human puppets. Himawari was barraged from all directions with different kinds of attacks, and striking the tenketsu’s of all these innocent people was taking up a tremendous amount of chakra. If this continued the way it was going right now, not even she would have enough chakra to deal with the situation. She needed to do something. Himawari summoned a clone and it teleported away to a kunai she left at the edge of the battlefield. It should remain unbothered there, while her actual body continued making its way towards the enemy shinobi. There was no sign of Shikadai and Sasuke, who had completely disappeared in the chaos of the battle.

Come ‘on. How long was it going to take. Himawari was getting anxious. She knew she didn’t have senjutsu fully covered yet, but she had hoped that in the midst of battle, the process of acquiring sage mode would be speeded up somehow. Finally, the markings announcing her entrance into sage mode appeared around her eyes. She was now able to sense more clearly where she needed to go, as well as being able to keep track of Sasuke and Shikadai, without having to focus her Byakugan on them for that. She maneuvered swiftly around the controlled people, narrowly avoiding an attack from the puppet master girl, who threw poisonous knifes at her. Shikadai positioned himself between her and the girl, blowing away every weapon she, or any of her puppets threw at the two of them. She most certainly was more than just a puppet user. The ease she had while handling her weapons, reminded her of Ten Ten and Himawari wouldn’t be surprised of the girl was a weapon’s master as well. This made her even more of a dangerous opponent.

The viciousness of the attacks from the human puppets confirmed Himawari’s suspicion that her opponent barely had any skill apart from his genjutsu. And with her chakra control, which had increased tremendously during her training with Sakura and Sarada, it would be insanely difficult for someone to trap her in a genjutsu long enough to injure her. Even Sarada was never able to do that. She fixated her Byakugan on the man, closing in on him. He desperately tried throwing everything he had at her and her comrades, who were trying to protect her. Everyone knew that the genjutsu user was the enemy’s best chance at winning this battle, just like everyone knew that Himawari was the biggest threat. Sasuke was using his Susanoo to stop the attack coming from the water style user, as well as taking care of most of the controlled people, freeing them form the genjutsu with his Sharingan, while keeping an eye on the young Uzumaki, making sure she reached her destination. It appeared Shikadai was doing a tremendous job in keeping the puppeteer from reaching Himawari and making sure Himawari’s path to the genjutsu user was as clear as possible.

Finally, Himawari reached the genjutsu user and she felt that he tried a last, desperate attempt to put her under a powerful genjutsu. With her gutsiness alone, she broke free and landed a final, devastating blow, killing her opponent.

She looked at Shikadai and Sasuke with a smile on her face, knowing that they had won this battle. But she was wrong. She was so wrong. Shikadai had just saved Sasuke from a sneak attack, as he was being overtaken by fatigue, after the prolonged use of his Susanoo and visual powers, leaving his back open for an attack from the girl. She saw it happen, right in front of her eyes, but she knew she would be too late.


	6. Mount Myoboku

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took so long to update... I don't know when the next update will come but enjoy!

She still tried, teleporting to the boy, but the knife, which seemed to travel at an impossible speed, hit Shikadai instants before she arrived at his side and pulled him away. She saw the purple shine of the poison on the blade and she knew that if they didn’t leave this instant, Shikadai would die. A wave of panic came over her. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. The light, even in the darkness of this realm, was to bright. The sounds were too loud. Himawari could feel her ears ringing as a state of shock took over her body. She barely felt how Sasuke somehow took the both of them in his one arm and dragged them through a portal that was not there moments before. Everything was fuzzy. She barely noticed the dancing lights of Sasuke’s Kirin ensuring their escape.

The landing was hard. All air was pushed from Himawari lungs. It’s what she needed to wake up again. Shikadai had already lost consciousness due to the poison and Sasuke was barely standing, at the brink of losing consciousness himself. They needed help, both of them, but she sensed the enemy glooming. She knew they would come back and that, if they stayed, she would not be able to heal the both of them while simultaneously fending off their enemy. The three of them would be dead before their call for help would even be able to reach the village. It was in that split second Himawari decided to make a risky decision. She had no choice.

“Reverse summoning jutsu!”

Himawari, holding on tightly to her to comrades arrived at mount Myoboku. She was tired and afraid and she knew the toads didn’t like it when people arrived unannounced and most certainly not when these people arrived unannounced and with uninvited guests, but this was the only place she knew would be safe and where their enemy wouldn’t be able to find them. On top of that, Mount Myoboku also had the resources necessary to help her take optimal care of Sasuke and Shikadai. She was almost out of chakra herself. Reverse summoning jutsu was a technique she didn't fully master yet and it took out way more chakra than she anticipated. She just hoped Gamakichi would understand, forgive her from bringing danger to his home and allow the three of them to remain hidden on mount Myoboku until Himawari was able to heal everyone. And she hoped that her chakra levels would be high enough for her to be able to do that.

* * *

“Himawari Uzumaki! You have some explaining to do!” Himawari flinched at the sound of Gamakichi’s voice. He sounded mad. Her and her shadowclone were desperately trying to save the lives of both Sasuke and Shikadai, while a second clone was gathering nature energy for her to use, in an attempt not to run out of her own chakra. She felt Gamakichi approaching.

“Oh, I see now.” The anger had disappeared from his voice, making room for genuine concern. She could feel his presence just mere meters away from her. “What happened, Himawari?” Her eyes filled with tears and she desperatly tried to to let panic overtake her body a second time. Her teammates were counting on her. What she was feeling in this moment was nothing compared to the danger Sasuke and Shikadai were in. Himawari would just have to suck it up, even if it is only for a little while.

“We were sent on an intel gathering mission, about another Ôtsutsuki. We discovered a hideout and went to check it out. We ended up being overwhelmed by the enemy.” She stated coldly, concentrating on her medical ninjutsu, trying to ignore her own fatigue and emotions. She took a deep breath, feeling a little more relieved afterwards.

“How’s that possible? You can sense the enemy with your Byakugan, right, not even speaking about your exceptional sensory abilities? And this Uchiha boy, he can sense chakra with the help of the rinnegan, or am I missing something?”

“No, you’re right. Both me and Sasuke picked up three enemies. However, one of them had a peculiar jutsu… He put innocent human beings under a powerful genjutsu and then used them as puppets.. It just… complicated...” She sighed, still feeling Gamakichi's concerned look fixated on her, watching her every move.

“Well, I can imagen that. What happened to the two of them anyways.” Gamakichi took out his pipe, smoking it as he was watching Himawari heal her comrades and listening to her story.

“Sasuke just used up all of his chakra, getting us out of that dimension and after a prolonged fight with a powerful enemy. His chakra levels are dangerously low, but he’s going to be alright once I have replenished his levels to a safer level. Shikadai got injured while covering Sasuke and saving him from possibly getting killed. He took a poisoned kunai to the gut. I tried to save him, but even I was too late. All that training and I still couldn’t save my friend when it mattered the most.” Himawari swallowed, at the verge of crying. She was ready to give up. She had almost run out of all of her chakra and the only thing keeping her going right now was the nature energy that she used as an extra chakra source. But she knew she couldn’t continue like this, or she would have to make an additional clone to gather up even more energy for her to use.

“Don’t beat yourself up Himawari. Right now, you’re the only one keeping these two alive. If you give up, they die and then all you've been through would have been for nothing. So suck it up and keep fighting, for both of their sakes. Now, what can we do to help?” The harsh words of the toad were exactly what Himawari needed in the moment, pulling her from her own pity party, reminding her of what's important.

Himawari reached in her pocket and grabbed a carefully folded piece of paper. She gave it to Gamakichi.

“Get all of the ingredients on this form. It’s a recipe for a medium that will help me extract the poison from Shikadai’s body. It will buy me enough time to figure out how to create an antidote for the poison, without having him dying on my watch. Also could you sent my father a message on my behalf?”

Gamakichi gave the list of ingredients to a nearby frog.

“Do you want to write a message or shall I just verbally pass one on?”

“Verbally, please. They’re way too critical to be left alone right now.”

She didn’t even finish saying her sentence when a small messenger frog appeared, ready to hear the message that needed to be past on to her father.

“Okay” Himawari said without looking up from the bodies of her comrades. “I want you to tell my father that we were ambushed. Tell him that Sasuke managed to get us all out and that I moved us to Mount Myoboku for safety. Let him know that Sasuke is unconscious from exhausting all of his chakra reserves and that Shikadai is gravely injured after being hit by a poisonous kunai. Ask him to sent back-up, with at least one other medical-nin to help me out with healing the two of them. Tell him to be prepared for trouble, once we leave mount Myoboku, as the enemy will most likely be waiting for us. As for the intel, we know there is something going on in that dimension, as they were most certainly protecting something or someone, as well as that there seems to be some activity in the land of birds as well, but that we have no clue what exactly it is.”

The moment Himawari stopped talking, the frog disappeared, ready to deliver the message to her father. Himawari could only hope that the reinforcements would arrive in time.

* * *


	7. Reaching the limit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy! Thank you for reading!

The messenger frog appeared at Naruto’s desk. Naruto, busy with paperwork didn’t immediately notice the arrival of his unexpected guest.

“Naruto Uzumaki, I have a message from your daughter, Himawari Uzumaki.” Naruto looked up, his face filled with concern. Why would Himawari send a messenger frog. One that clearly came from mount Myoboku by the looks of it. It was very much unlike her. Naruto gestured with his hand that the frog could speak,anxious to hear its message.

“Himawari has sought refuge in mount Myoboku after running into trouble during the mission, which left Shikadai severely injured and poisoned, fighting for his life and Sasuke unconscious due to exhausting all of his chakra reserves. She is asking for back-up, with at least one extra medical-nin to help her take care of those two. She also wants me to let you know that there is still little to nothing known about the enemy except for the fact there is definitely enemy movements, which also seem to take place in the land of Birds itself, proven by the trouble Himawari and Shikadai ran in to prior to reaching Sasuke and that it seems that the enemy is protecting something or someone, yet to be discovered what exactly. She also expects to run into trouble again, once they leave mount Myoboku.”

Naruto had grown pale. He wasn’t prepared for this kind of trouble. He knew this mission would be difficult, but for the three of them to be overwhelmed like this… The frog disappeared, returning to mount Myoboku. As if the spirits of the previous Hokage had known his need for his adviser, Shikamaru just entered the room.

“Naruto? What’s wrong?” Shikamaru asked, alarmed by the look of pure terror on Naruto’s face.

“The mission… They ran into trouble…”

“Oh no… How bad?”

“Shikamaru… I’m so sorry… Shikadai has been gravely injured, poisoned by the enemy. Sasuke is out as well.”

Shikamaru seemed shocked. The news about his son made his gut wrench together and Shikamaru found himself hoping Himawari was okay and taking care of his son. Shikamaru composed himself. Him losing himself in his emotions and worries wasn’t going to help his son one bit.

“What about Himawari? Where are they now?”

“I don’t know what state Himawari is in, but she can’t be to badly injured considering she’s the one that send me the message. She took Shikadai and Sasuke to mount Myoboku, so they should be safe. Gamakichi will make sure of that. I’m presuming Himawari is healing both Sasuke and Shikadai right now, but she’s going to run out of chakra soon enough. She’s asked for back-up.”

“Who are you going to send.”

“Team 7. And I’m going too.”

* * *

Himawari was still healing Shikadai. After a while, Sasuke’s chakra levels had returned to a safe level and he had regained consciousness for a few seconds before falling asleep again. But Shikadai wasn’t doing well. The frogs had brought her everything she needed in order to create the medium needed for the poison extraction, but Shikadai was deteriorating rapidly and couldn’t go a minute without her care. Soon, she would have to support him non-stop in order for the boy to even stay alive.

Himawari was exhausted. The clone gathering nature energy had disappeared quite a while ago and she was at the brink of reaching a dangerously low chakra level herself. She needed a break and she needed one soon. Aside from being almost out of chakra, Himawari was tired. She hadn’t slept ever since she and Shikadai had been attacked by those five ninja at their campsite. She had given up her rest so Shikadai could have some too. She was at the brink of falling asleep and knew she had to do something soon.

Himawari once again thought back at her time with Sakura and Sarada, as she always did in times of great need. She vividly remembered the day she mastered poison extraction and the making of an antidote. The exact thing she needed to do right now if she wanted to safe her comrade. But she also remembered what Sakura had told her after that. _Ask Sarada to teach you how to heal yourself during battle._ Sarada had told her that she always needed to store away a portion of her chakra, which she than had to concentrate on the area of her injury. Himawari wasn’t badly injured, just the usual cuts and bruises, so she had that chakra reserve left. She knew she would have to use it, but it meant losing her back-up plan when the next fight would indefinitely arrive. Himawari plunged into the last of her chakra reserves anyways. She had to, if she wanted to give Shikadai any chance of survival.

“Shadow clone jutsu!” Two clones appeared. She wouldn’t be able to do any better without risking to run out of chakra all over again before the antidote was finished. One of the clones took over her position and started healing Shikadai while the other clone installed herself and started gathering nature energy. This way, she would be able to use sage mode for a little, while healing Shikadai, which would buy her time in making the antidote. She knew it was important that she extracted the poison from his body first. She immediately started working.

Gamakichi was watching Himawari’s every move from a distance. He was impressed with the confidence the young Uzumaki had gained since the last time he had seen her. When Naruto took his daughter to mount Myoboku to teach her sage mode, she was still young and insecure about her abilities. But right here, he saw a Himawari that pushed through, despite having crossed her own limits a long time ago and that worked with the confidence of a ninja far beyond her age. She truly had grown. He was surprised she was still conscious after all she had been through. He could feel that her chakra levels were low, at a point most people would have lost consciousness already, but her sheer willpower and gutsiness made her continue. For her comrades. Gamakichi smiled. He had reached a new level of respect for the girl.

* * *


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Unfortunatly, I don't know when the next update will be, considering I just started uni. Enjoy anyways!

Naruto was looking at team 7, who had all just returned from their respective missions.

“Today, you’ll be going on a mission as a team. Himawari and Shikadai were sent on a mission to assist Sasuke in his intel gathering just a few days ago. They ran into trouble while in another dimension and were barely able to escape. Shikadai was gravely injured and Sasuke is out as well, although from exhaustion, not from injury. Himawari is handling the situation, but we don’t know anything about the condition she is in and she has requested for back-up, containing at least one other skilled medical nin. I’ll be joining the three of you on this mission. We will depart within 30 min.” Naruto was speaking fast, wanting to get this part over with as soon as possible. All he really wanted was to check on his daughter and best friend.

All three of them seemed to be in shock. Boruto seemed downright scared. He was worried for his sister and his best friend and not knowing what state he would find them in scared him to death. Sarada noticed his discomfort and placed her hand on his shoulder, looking at him with sympathy.

“Don’t worry, Boruto. Himawari isn’t going to let anyone die on her watch. Don’t underestimate your sister. I was the one who trained her in medical ninjutsu, remember? She’ll be fine. And so will Shikadai.” Her voice was soft and when Boruto faced her, she could see he was blinking away the upcoming tears.

Boruto seemed comforted by the words of the Uchiha. If Sarada thought Himawari would be able to safe Shikadai, than that must be the case, right? Boruto let out a sigh. He knew Himawari was far from weak, training with her was always a real struggle as she had the analytical mind of a genius and knew her strengths and weaknesses well, but she was still his little sister. He was worried about her safety.

Mitsuki, Sarada and Boruto all hurried home to pack for this mission and met up again in his father’s office before the 30 minutes were over. To his surprise, Naruto was packed as well to depart on the mission. Boruto hadn’t seen him at home at all.

“Himawari and the others are currently located at mount Myoboku, where Himawari evacuated them to. Gamakichi will make sure that they’re safe there, so this is not a concern right now, but once we leave mount Myoboku, we will most likely run into trouble.”

Mount Myoboku. Boruto recognized that name. It was were Himawari went to learn her sage mode and the living area of the summoning frogs. If he had tried that with the snakes, Manda and Aoda would have eaten him and his companions alive. He chuckled to himself about that thought.

“Alright everyone, hold on to me. We’re going to mount Myoboku.”

Naruto performed the reverse summoning jutsu and they all arrived at mount Myoboku, where Gamakichi was patiently waiting for their arrival.

“Where’s Himawari?” Sarada asked, urgently. “I’m also a medical-nin. I can help her.”

Gamakichi pointed with his head towards a beautiful little spot hidden by the shadows of the plants surrounding it. She immediately saw the purple hair of the Uzumaki girl, as well as the boy she was healing. There were two of them, one healing Shikadai, while the other was busy doing something else, regularly checking in with her father and Shikadai. Her father seemed to be peacefully sleeping next to the dying boy. She urged her teammates and the Hokage to allow her and Himawari to have some room as they worked on Shikadai. She could sense that Naruto and Boruto would run over to Himawari if they have been given the chance. Gamakichi came with the distraction Sarada needed, gently leading the group away to show them where they would be sleeping for the next few day. Sarada rushed over toward Himawari. She looked absolutely wrecked. Himawari was testing an antidote on one of the testing scrolls, barely able to stay awake. She watched the droplet of antidote fall on the scroll. And… It worked!

“Himawari! You did it!” Sarada gasped.

Himawari slowly turned around, looking at the Uchiha with a confused look, taking some time to recognize the Uchiha. She pinched her eyes together, as to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating it.

“Sarada?” Himawari sounded so tired, so broken.

Himawari eyes welled up with tears. She thought no-one would be coming anymore and seeing her friend was all she needed to put in the final leg of work. She put the antidote she had made into a syringe, carefully leaving a bit that would be used as a base for more antidotes and jammed the syringe into Shikadai’s leg. She watched as the fluid slowly made its way into the boy’s bloodstream, feeling a relief coming over her as she slowly saw the color return on the Nara's face.

“I did it, Sarada” she said, barely awake. “I saved him” she said before Himawari Uzumaki finally allowed herself to collapse, landing into the welcoming arms of her friend. “Yes, you did. You really did safe them all, you silly girl.”

* * *

Shikamaru dreaded coming home after hearing the news that Naruto had received from Himawari. He didn’t know how to even start telling his wife that their son’s life was hanging from a threat held by a girl two years his junior who probably was exhausted herself. The moment he walked into the house, Temari picked up on his foul mood.

“Alright. Spill it. What happened.” He cursed by all the previous Hokage that his wife knew his so well in that moment. He had wanted a few moments for him to gather his thoughts in order to figure out the best way to break this news, but he knew Temari wouldn’t stop pestering him until he told her exactly what was going on.

“Temari, news came in about Shikadai’s mission…”

“And?” Temari asked, but her face had grown pale, already preparing herself for bad news.

Shikamaru’s heart broke. How did he tell the mother of his child that he might not come back from a mission. How would he justify the decision to immediately send him on a mission, not even a day after returning from his previous one. How would he tell her that she wasn’t even able to tell him a proper goodbye.

“Shikamaru! Tell me!” She was yelling, at the verge of tears. She knew. After all, she was his mother.

“He got badly injured by a poisonous knife. He’s in bad shape. Himawari was trying to safe him, but her own state was unknown from the note. Temari… Our son might not make it out alive…” His voice cracked during that final sentence. Even the thought of losing their son absolutely crushed Shikamaru. He started crying, not being able to keep his panic and worry for his son to himself. Not being able to put on a brave face for his wife, who was suffering just as much, if not even more than him.

Temari wrapped her arms around her husband, and they slowly made their way to a sitting position. She didn’t say a word, just joining him in his sadness and worry. They sat there for quite a while, holding each other and crying their fears away. They held onto each other even after the tears had dried as if the other person was the only thing keeping them moving.

“I’m sure he will be fine.” It sounded weak, but Shikamaru could feel Temari truly believed that. “Himawari promised me to keep Shikadai safe.”

A promise. Just like her father, Himawari did everything in her power never to go back on her word. The promise bound her to Shikadai and by this revelation, Shikamaru knew that the young Uzumaki indeed would not allow their son to die. She would find a way, like she always did. Like Naruto always did.

* * *


	9. Himawari's blessing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Enjoy this chapter!

Himawari’s work was an absolute blessing. The young Uzumaki had documented every step of her work progress, which had enabled Sarada to precisely copy the antidote Himawari had created. With the ingredients the frogs had given Himawari, Sarada was able to make two antidotes for each shinobi in their merged squad.

It had been almost two days since she had arrived. Himawari was still asleep, slowly regaining her strength. Her father had woken up just a few hours ago and had spent all of his time with Naruto, briefing his best friend about everything that had happened. Naruto had stayed by Himawari’s side until that point. In a way, she was grateful her father had woken up, because he served as a much needed distraction for the Hokage. Himawari and Shikadai both still needed a lot of rest and she felt bad dismission Boruto after he had only visited his sister for a few moments, while his father didn’t leave her side.

A soft groin pulled her out of her thought. Shikadai was slowly regaining consciousness again, after three days of being in a coma. Sarada had felt relieved when she had noticed Shikadai’s fever going down, just moments after Himawari had administrated the antidote.

“Shikadai, stay down” Sarada said softly, placing a hand above his chest in a clear gesture of staying put. Shikadai lay down again.

“Sarada? Is that you?” Shikadai looked at her confused. He, of course, had no idea what had happened in the past few days and was understandably confused by the whole ordeal.

“Yes. It’s me.”

“Where’s Hima?” He asked, still sounding groggy. “What happened?”

“Himawari is fine, she resting now.” Sarada pointed at where Himawari was sleeping, just a few meters away from where Shikadai himself was laying. Shikadai’s body relaxed at the sight of the young Uzumaki and his eyes were filled with a newfound calm. Sarada hadn’t even noticed how tense Shikadai really had been. “As for the mission, you got poisoned, dad got taken out and Himawari brought you all here.”

“Well… Thank you for saving us.”

“Technically, it was Himawari that saved your live. She created the antidote from scratch, despite being physically exhausted and almost being out of chakra. When we arrived, Himawari had already finished the antidote. She collapsed soon after, but thanks to her, I was able to make more doses.” Shikadai’s eyes grew wide. He had no idea Himawari was capable of doing all of this and was impressed with her sheer willpower to continue.

“Who else came?”

“Lord Seventh, me, Boruto and Mitsuki. Were just waiting for you and Himawari to fully recover before returning to the land of Birds and taking down this wretched organization.”

“It’s not going to be that easy. We were overwhelmed by only three shinobi and aside from those, we have no intel at all.”

“Yes, I’m aware. Dad wanted to leave mount Myoboku to investigate on his own, but Lord Seventh put a stop to that, saying that it would mean risking yours and Himawari’s safety, as it could reveal the location of mount Myoboku. Lord Seventh will get us all out once everyone has recovered.”

Shikadai listened with interest. The upcoming battle was going to be a difficult one and it was the smartest decision to stay in a location that you know is safe until everyone is in top shape again. They would not be able to win this battle if even one of them was not up to par. It was still going to take at least a few more days for Shikadai to completely heal himself and no-one knew for sure how long it would take for Himawari to wake up again. According to Sarada, Himawari had completely used up all of her chakra saving him and Sasuke, so it was close to a miracle that she had even managed to survive this whole ordeal in the first place.

“Try to get some more rest, Shikadai. You’ll need it. I’ll go tell Lord Hokage and the other’s you’re awake and will be able to have some more visitors going forward from tomorrow.”

Sarada got up and Shikadai watched as she left the small spot which served as an infirmary. Shikadai diverted his attention to the only person that mattered. The person that had saved his life and had almost lost her own life in the process. He crawled towards the young Uzumaki, not having the energy to get up and walk and stroked her hair.

“You foolish girl, you shouldn’t have pushed yourself that hard” he whispered with his hand laying gently on her cheek. Shikadai installed himself next to her and watched her for a few moments, before going back to sleep, comforted by the proximity of her presence.

Himawari, who had woken up about halfway through the conversation between Shikadai and Sarada, finally dared to open her eyes. She smiled weakly at seeing Shikadai’s peaceful face next to her. She had felt him stroking her hair, saying that she shouldn’t have gone so far as she did, but she did not care. She had saved him, and that was all that mattered in the end.

“I’m glad I pushed myself, Shikadai” she whispered back, before falling asleep once more.

* * *

They remained on Mount Myoboku for a few more days. Slowly, both Himawari and Shikadai were regaining their strength, participating in some training exercises during the day. Sasuke and Naruto were busy coming up with a strategy to counter the immense forces of their enemy. They knew that what would be waiting for them after they left Mount Myoboku would make their encounter in the other dimension seem like child’s play. They escaped once. Their enemy would not want them to escape a second time.

Himawari took precautions, asking Gamakichi to allow her to leave some of her clones behind so she would have easy access to nature energy should she need it. Gamakichi, who was still a bit pissed at her for bringing this situation into his home, allowed it, impressed that the young Uzumaki would think this much ahead.

After hearing the words Shikadai had said to her just a few days prior, Himawari hadn’t interacted with the boy, being to shy to approach him and admit that she had heard what he said, despite her curiosity almost killing her, as she wanted to know if he had heard her response as well. Instead, Himawari focused on herself, restoring the small chakra reserve she had completely drained saving Shikadai, healing her minor injuries and training with Sarada.

“Are you ready for what’s waiting for us out there.” The black haired girl sat down next to Himawari, who was overlooking the boys train together. Just like always seemed to happen with Sarada, the young Uchiha knew exactly what was bothering Himawari.

“I don’t know, honestly. We were unable to take care of those three and we can be almost sure to expect more enemy forces this time.” Sarada nodded in agreement. She too thought that would be the case, considering the three shinobi Himawari, Shikadai and Sasuke had fought had gone so far to take them out, even going as far as following them back into the ‘normal’ dimension. Sasuke had confirmed there was a large force looking for them. It would not be long before those shinobi would grow frustrated. Sarada just hoped they wouldn’t take their anger out on the innocent villagers.

“I’m worried too. It has been a little over a week since you fled the land of Birds and came here. They probably are starting to get annoyed by our disappearance. That doesn’t bode well for the villagers…”

“I’m aware…”

The two girls sat in silence, watching Boruto and Mitsuki hold a taijutsu match, with Shikadai looking at them from the sidelines.

“How did you push yourself to continue. You were worn out, Himawari… You shouldn’t have been able to move, let alone think and then make such a complex antidote with such precision in your condition. I don’t think even I would have been able to do that.”

“I…I don’t know. I knew I was tired, but I pushed it aside.” Himawari closed her eyes, thinking back of a few of the worst days in her short life. “I just was so determined to save Shikadai… I didn’t want him to die. It motivated me.” Himawari opened her eyes again, looking straight into Sarada’s eyes. “For the record, Sarada, I think you would have been able to save him. You have that desire too. To save your comrades.” Sarada’s eyes grew wide, surprised by Himawari’s words. The young Uzumaki possibly believed more in Sarada than Sarada believed in herself. But wasn’t that exactly what friends were for? To build each other up. Sarada smiled, happy to have a supportive friend like Himawari, vowing to honor Himawari’s beliefs in her and never to let any of her comrades die again.

The sound of someone arriving startled the two girls. They quickly turned around and were met with Sasuke’s unfazed gaze.

“Naruto wants us to leave soon. He thinks everyone is right about ready to leave. Be prepared, this is going to be one tough battle. We’re leaving in about an hour.” Sasuke eyes softened. “Be sure to eat something before we leave.” He departed again, leaving Sarada and Himawari with a knot in their stomach.

“Are you ready for this?” Sarada’s voice sounded tense. Himawari was feeling the same way. In a way, she couldn’t wait to stand there on the battle field, taking down their enemy and making sure the village was safe, but she had learned from their previous experience and knew better than to be cocky.

“I’m not sure” she answered eventually, feeling it was the best way to describe what she was feeling right now. Sarada nodded in agreement, realizing that not knowing how to feel was exactly the way to summarize everyone’s feeling.

The two girls noticed that Naruto had approached the three boys and was talking with them, probably breaking the news of their departure as well.

“Sarada… You go on ahead. Find something to eat. There’s something I need to do first.” Sarada looked at her with a questioning look, not knowing what the young Uzumaki was up to, but Himawari, unfazed by the Uchiha’s gaze, wasn’t about to tell her what she had to do. Sarada gave up and made her way towards her teammates and Shikadai. Himawari watched the four of them for a short while before turning around and making her way towards the only thing she still had to do.

It was a short walk to find Gamakichi. When she found him, he was already waiting for her, suspecting she would come to speak with him.

“Himawari, please sit.” Gamakichi made a movement with his arm, pointing towards a spot right in front of her and offering her some rice balls her father had brought with him from the village. He really knew she would come, didn’t he. She smiled to herself before sitting down and looking the toad in the eyes.

“I owe you a big thank you, Gamakichi” she started, with the chief toad looking at her with great interest. “I know you usually don’t allow outsiders to come here and I understand what position I put you and the other toads in when I showed up with my comrades in tow. I truly am sorry for bringing danger to your home.” Himawari bowed her head, waiting for the judgement of the toad, fully prepared to take on the consequences of her actions.

“When I first met you, you were an immature and insecure shinobi. You didn’t believe in yourself and didn’t believe the words of praise from your peers, unable to see your talents as a shinobi. Yet, you still threw your all in your training, fighting every single day to become a better shinobi than you were the day before, slowly realizing your worth in the process. While you and your brother were here, I slowly but surely saw you become one of the greatest shinobi this world has ever known. Your father, as well as all the older toads, were nothing with impressed with your work ethic and overall skill and they approved of you far more than they did of your brother. When I saw how much all of them believed in you, I chose to put my trust in you as well. You’re a smart girl, young Uzumaki, you made that decision because you thought that was best and frankly, you were right. I forgive you for bringing danger towards our home, because this is your home as well and I know you would fiercely protect it, even at the cost of your own live. And that, Himawari, is what matters in the end.” Himawari’s eyes started to tear from hearing the kind words of the toad sage. She had no idea he thought so highly of her.

Grateful to have an ally as kind and as powerful as Gamakichi, Himawari felt empowered for the upcoming battle. She knew that Gamakichi would always have her back should she need it, but she wasn’t about to abuse his hospitality once again. She was determined to take out the enemy group and protect her home from any more harm. Relieved, Himawari took a bit from her rice ball and made her way towards the rest of the group, ready to walk into the battle of a lifetime.


	10. A final goodbye?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Thank you for reading and I'm sorry for the long wait... Still trying to find my balance as a fresh univerisity student. I hope you enjoy!

She was the last to arrive to the meeting. She felt the eyes of her father resting on her. She could almost hear the question in his eyes. It would have to wait. Right now Himawari, and everyone else, had other matters on their minds.

“Is everyone ready?”, Sasuke asked, looking everyone separately in the eye. Everyone nodded. The vibe around the group was tense. Sasuke, satisfied with everyone response, turned his attention towards Shikadai. Apparently, the Nara had come up with a strategy.

“Alright, as we all know, me, Himawari and Sasuke were overwhelmed in enemy territory and almost payed for that with our lives. Part of the reason we were beaten, was because we were separated from each other, and thus were unable to provide sufficient back-up for each other.” Shikadai looked around the group. Everyone was listening closely to what he had to say. “To prevent this situation from occurring again, we’ll be working with a type of buddy-system. Each team will have a medical-ninja in their squad. I will pair up with Himawari, Sasuke and Naruto, with Naruto and Sasuke serving as one tag team and Himawari and I as the other tag team. This leaves Sarada, Boruto and Mitsuki as the second squad. Try to stay as much in these squads as possible. Now Himawari and Sarada, the two of you are primarily responsible for the healing aspect, while the rest of us take the lead in the fighting.” Shikadai stopped talking for a moment to share a look with both her and Sarada, as if he wanted to make sure the two of them were fully aware of their role of medics. But even if that was the case, Himawari wasn’t going to stand by and watch her teammates get hurt. As if Shikadai could read her mind, he continued: “Of course this doesn’t mean you can’t join the fight. You’ll be forced as we’ll be overwhelmed all over if you stay out of it and the two of you are valuable fighters even without the medical ninjutsu, but you must be fully aware that it’s important that the two of you survive. If that means fleeing from a battle and getting yourself into safety before the rest of us can, so be it. You’re our best chance of survival as well.”

Himawari swallowed. This was an awful lot of pressure to put on her. She didn’t know if she would be able to leave behind her teammates should she ever be put in that position. But she knew he was right. If she died and Sarada was unable to heal them for one or another reason, than they would all be in trouble.

“Now if everyone is ready, Sasuke will open the portal back to the land of Birds. Be prepared everyone.” Naruto said, laying one last worried look on his daughter, who knowingly ignored him. She couldn’t worry about her father right now. She had to focus on the battle ahead of her.

Sasuke opened the portal. Himawari recognized the place as the spot where she and Shikadai had first met up with Sasuke. Naruto was the first to enter the portal, quickly followed by her brother and the rest of his team. Once Sarada had gone through the portal, Shikadai followed, leaving her and Sasuke. She was about to jump through the portal when Sasuke’s voice stopped her: “Don’t do anything reckless, Himawari.”

She looked up at Sasuke, surprised. What kind of advice was this.

“You have grown a lot over the past few years and all of us would have died if it weren’t for you, but you’re still Naruto’s daughter. You would go through great lengths to save your friends. Don’t go too far, Himawari.”

Himawari pinched her lips together. He was right. She would die if it meant saving her friends.

“Don’t bother, Sasuke. It will not stop me from saving them” she said, before jumping through the portal, leaving Sasuke alone.

Sasuke smiled, closing his eyes, as the girl reminded him of the good old days with his best friend. She reminded him of Naruto. The same gutsiness. The same thrive to safe their loved ones. Sasuke felt strangely assured, knowing Himawari would never give it. He looked one last time at the peaceful sight of Mount Myoboku before following his comrades into battle.

* * *

Once they arrived, they took the free time their enemy was giving them to take a few last moments of rest. Everyone was building up their chakra and eating foods that would help their stamina, sitting in the small squads Shikadai had proposed. Naruto and Sasuke sat together and it appeared like her father was giving the Uchiha, who looked exceptionally grim, a pep-talk. Sarada, her brother and Mitsuki were also sitting together, quietly talking to each other, making up a strategy. The only ones who weren’t talking were her and Shikadai.

“Himawari?” Himawari looked up, startled by the sound of Shikadai’s voice. “Hmm?” The Nara looked at her with warmth. But also with concern. “Will you promise me you won’t push yourself to the edge to save me again?” He looked at her. He was dead serious.

“No, Shikadai. I won’t promise that.” She looked him dead in the eye, hoping he would understand why she wouldn’t give up on him, or any of her teammates for that matter. She wanted him to understand. “You’re my comrade and I care about you. I will do everything in my power to save you, even if it means dying myself.” Shikadai started to shake his head, trying to go against her. Himawari wasn’t having it. “We all have a role to play in this mission. If I feel like your role is more important than mine, than I will gladly give up my life, because in that case it would mean making sure the mission is a success. You know me better than to assume I would just die for nothing, Shikadai. I fully intent to live, but I won’t let it stop me from making the difficult choices here…”

“But I don’t want you to die!” For the first time since Himawari knew Shikadai, she saw him grow irritated. For some reason, he was very passionate about her living.

“But, that’s the risk you’re taking as a shinobi, especially when faced with a powerful foe like this” she defended her previous words.

“Don’t you get it?” He was agitated, making big movements with his hands to compromise for the fact he was keeping his voice down: “I care about you! You already almost died once because of me and honestly it was the worst feeling in the world. Knowing you almost weren’t walking on this planet anymore because of me… I couldn’t stand it!”

Himawari grew quiet. She wasn’t expecting this. She had no idea that Shikadai felt like that and that her dying would bring such pain to him. Now that she thought about it, it would also bring a lot of pain to her brother and her parents… Was she really prepared to make that sacrifice?

Shikadai took a deep breath, calming down. “I’m sorry, Himawari, I shouldn’t have put that burden on you…” Himawari remained quiet. She didn’t dare to look in the Nara’s compelling green eyes and frankly was unsure how to react to his revelation as a whole. The two of them just sat together in silence for a while, until Naruto announced he and Kurama had picked up on their enemy and that they were fast approaching with group of around seven ninja. Everyone got up and prepared themselves for the upcoming battle. The air around them was filled with tension. And something about this tension finally pushed Himawari do react to the statement Shikadai had made. When he got up and mumbled he would check his supply of kunai, Himawari grabbed him by his collar and swiftly turned him around, before giving him a feather light peck on his lips, leaving the young Nara behind, looking bedazzled. “Stay safe, Shikadai.”

* * *


	11. A sacrafice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. I'm sorry about the inconsistent posting. I'm really trying to find the motivation to keep writing and posting this stories, but some days... It's hard... I'll do my best. I hope you enjoy.

They had placed themselves in a formation that would make it possible for them to ambush the enemy, in case they hadn’t found them yet. Himawari and her group were on the left side of the small forest road their enemy was traveling on, while her brother and his squad were on the other side of the road. Soon, the group of six ninja appeared, not even trying to hide their presence. Alarm bells started ringing in Himawari’s head and not only because those six ninja were putting no efforts in hiding their arrival. Her father had picked up on seven ninja, not six, so where was the final shinobi? What was their plan? She activated her Byakugan, scanning the area to see if she could find the location of the final shinobi. She couldn’t. Either her father was wrong about the number of their enemy, which she highly doubted, or this shinobi, whoever he or she may be, was hiding in a place that was not visible for her eyes. Like another dimension.

She shared a look with Sasuke, who seemed just a confused as her. She mouthed the word seven with a questioning look. Sasuke immediately understood what she was steering towards. If Naruto was right, and there was a seventh ninja, this shinobi would be hiding in one of the other dimensions, where Sasuke would be able to find him or her. Sasuke frowned, confirming Himawari’s suspicions. There was indeed a number seven, and he or she was watching from a safe distance, waiting for his or her turn to appear. He whispered to Naruto about this latest revelation and the two seemed to reach a consensus about what plan they were about to follow next. The only ones able to enter a new dimension were Sasuke and her brother, but knowing Boruto, he would dive head first into the battle with the six shinobi present right now, leaving only Sasuke to open a portal and force their final enemy out of its hiding place.

But the fact that those six shinobi were hiding their final member, concerned Himawari. She was afraid not even Sasuke with all his skill would be able to stop this opponent.

“Let stop with the hide and seek, shall we?” The question came from a familiar face. The water style user from their previous battle. The one who had almost beaten Sasuke. Just like the plan prescribed, her brother’s team was the first to appear from the bushes, with Mitsuki and Boruto standing a little in front of Sarada, as if they were shielding her from harm.

Suddenly, a sharp pain cut in Himawari’s shoulder. In a reflex, she put her hand on the sore spot. She felt a warm, thick fluid flow through her fingers. She was bleeding. Shikadai looked shocked, not being able to move due to the surprise. She hadn’t even seen the enemy move! The four of them appeared from their hiding place as well.

The atmosphere around them was tense. It almost seemed like everybody was waiting for the other party to make a move. Himawari could see her brother was itching to start this battle and she had to admit that she too wanted to jump in there. But she knew that would be an insanely stupid decision. So she waited. But her brother didn’t.

Boruto threw himself on the shinobi standing closest to him, forcing Mitsuki and Sarada to follow him and provide back-up. Sarada barely dodged a knife thrown at her. As if Boruto’s attack was the cue they were waiting for, their enemy attacked. Himawari was barely able to dodge the barrage of attacks coming at her.

She felt how a brush of air came from the foot of her opponent and she felt being pushed backwards. The girl she was fighting against was fast. Her taijutsu was almost too much for Himawari to deal with, as she was barely able to launch one of her own attacks. She internally thanked her father for pushing her to train with Rock Lee as well, seeing it was the only reason her head hadn’t been kicked of her body yet.

Himawari took a quick glance around her. Sasuke had disappeared, searching for an opening to attack the seventh enemy, completely according to their plan. Her father was fending off his own opponent while simultaneously helping Shikadai take care of his opponent. They seemed to be able to handle themselves pretty well, despite Shikadai barely healed wounds. Himawari looked around for her brother, but was unable to locate him for a moment. It was Sarada she saw first and she was fighting an uneven battle against three opponents. She was in trouble.

Himawari gave her opponent a chakra enhanced kick to the stomach, knocking the girl out for at least a few moments, before rushing towards Sarada to help her. Himawari easily took out one of the three enemies by hitting him in the tenketsu, as he hadn’t seen her coming.

Her and Sarada stood back to back.

“Where are my brother and Mitsuki?” She whispered, making sure Sarada was the only one who could hear her.

Himawari deflected a kunai coming at her and Sarada, giving the young Uchiha a chance to catch her breath and answer. “Boruto got hit by a knife. Tore one of his muscles. Mitsuki pulled him aside to heal him. He should be back soon.”

Just as Sarada had finished her question, her brother and Mitsuki appeared from some bushes nearby, taking out one of the two opponents Sarada and Himawari were fighting. Meanwhile, the taijutsu girl had recovered from the kick Himawari had given her prior to this and came storming towards her. Himawari quickly moved away from her brother’s squad, not wanting to endanger them.

The girl came at her with all her anger and viciousness. Himawari was growing tired and it became more and more difficult for her to dodge the numerous attacks. She felt a sharp pain in her gut and flew backwards as the girl finally placed a hit on her. Himawari stopped kind of abruptly, stopped in her tracks by some familiar arms.

“Are you okay?” Shikadai yelled in her ear as he was carefully putting her on the ground.

“Yeah, thanks to you. That could have been ugly if you hadn’t caught me!” she yelled back, before focusing again on her opponent.

Shikadai turned around so they were standing back by back, facing his own opponent.  
“Himawari? Can you buy me some time?”

She made a confirming sound before creating a shadowclone and attacking both opponents at once. She saw Shikadai get into position and his shadows left, trying to capture their opponents. It was at this moment their seventh enemy decided to make her appearance.

Shikadai was knocked aside by a strong gust of pure chakra. It was a technique very similar to her gentle fist. He flew against a three and lay there awfully still. With her Byakugan, Himawari immediately picked up on the damage the blow had caused. The physical blow was hard, but the damage caused by the foreign chakra, which worked like a poison, was devastating, eating away Shikadai’s own chakra. Himawari knew she had to do something. Quick. Before Himawari could go over to check on him, both her opponent and Shikadai’s opponent launched an attack at her, forcing her to retreat. She saw a knife being thrown at Shikadai and she closed her eyes, not wanting to see the end of the boy she loved. She sheath a tear, trying to let go and focus on the battle.

A precisely thrown knife that came seemingly out of nowhere knocked the kunai of track, saving Shikadai’s life. Sasuke appeared in his Susanoo form, picking up the unconscious Nara boy and keeping him safe from the battle. She felt the giant hand of the Susanoo pick her up and before she knew she was inside Sasuke’s armor, standing over Shikadai’s lifeless body. She knew what she had to do to save him. With a bunch of precise blow, Himawari closed each and every chakra point in Shikadai’s body, preventing both his own and the enemy’s chakra from flowing in his system. She placed the palm of her hand on his chest. His heart was barely beating, already affected by the chakra. She closed her eyes and focused her own chakra to the palm of her hand, before releasing it into Shikadai’s body. A shock went through him as her chakra wiped out most of the poison. He wasn’t out of danger yet, but she had at least bought him some time. Himawari bowed over him and gave him a soft kiss on his lips, her tear dripping on his face.

“He needs to get out of here! We all need to get out of here! She’s way too strong for us to defeat her.” Sasuke’s voice interrupted her pity party. She swallowed.

“Who?”

“Katsumi Ôtsutsuki, leader of this group of thugs and the one who just nearly killed Shikadai with one blow. There were rumors of another Ôtsutsuki showing up, so I have been investigating the claims. Out of all the possibilities, she’s by far the worst!”

“What’s that supposed to mean? There are more?”

“Probably not.” Himawari waited for some kind of explanation following Sasuke’s revelation, but he just looked at her, waiting for her next move.

“Get me to my father.”

Sasuke didn’t question her, instead making a way around their enemies to get her to Naruto. Aside from her, Naruto was the only one capable of performing the Flying Rajin and evacuating everyone from this battle. Himawari knew this was a lost battle too. The only way to defeat Katsumi was with a plan created to fight her and one heck of a powerful sealing jutsu. Currently, they had neither.

Just as she arrived to her father’s side, who was in full Kurama form, she saw how her brother was taken out by another precise blow from Katsumi. Mitsuki plucked him out of the air, lading safely and preventing her brother from suffering the same fate as Shikadai. She looked at his chakra system and saw similar damage as what she saw in Shikadai. Sarada yelled something at the two of them. Mitsuki seemed to object, but Sarada had set her mind. After a last conflicted look towards Sarada, Mitsuki made his way towards were Sasuke was now fending off about three enemies, laying a wounded Boruto down next to Shikadai, before jumping back into battle to help Sasuke. Himawari quickly repeated the process she had performed on Shikadai on her brother, pulling him out of the danger zone.

Himawari entered Kurama’s chakra body, and she was led right to her father.

“We need to get everybody out of here! Boruto and Shikadai are already gravely injured to the point where they cannot continue the battle! More will follow if we don’t get out of here right this instance!”

“I’m aware.” Her father reached out his open hand, already knowing Himawari’s plan.

“You take Boruto and Shikadai, as well as Sasuke! That Ôtsutsuki will probably go after you and Sasuke and you’ll need his Susanoo to protect you! I’ll go get Sarada and Mitsuki.”

Her father nodded, in full agreement of the plan. Himawari exited Kurama’s chakra cloak, feeling filled up thanks to his healing powers and made her way towards where Mitsuki was battling two opponents. She threw a rasenshuriken towards one of them, instantly killing him.

She was right about Katsumi, who went after her father and Sasuke. She heard how Naruto yelled against Sasuke that he would have to trust her to take care of his daughter and that Naruto needed him to protect the four of them as he prepared for the Flying Raijin. As Sasuke was fending off the enemy, Naruto threw the still unconscious Shikadai over his shoulder, before picking up Boruto and holding him under his arm. Naruto tightly gripped Sasuke’s hand, who had noticed Naruto was prepped to go was trying to reach his daughter with a conflicted look on his face. Naruto softly said something against Sasuke, prompting him to stop fighting, before the four of them disappeared.

Himawari looked around her. Three of their opponents were dead, including the taijutsu girl and the guy Himawari had just taken out with her Rasenshuriken. Four left. The three of them were in an eery position and Himawari knew she would have to get them out as soon as possible.

“Mitsuki! Can you grab Sarada from here?” The boy looked up at her, only now realizing they were the only ones left on the battle field. He was bleeding from a nasty cut in his face.

Mitsuki extended his arm, carefully wrapping it around the Uchiha and pulling her to safety, not even bothering to answer Himawari.

Sarada, who was clearly exhausted and almost out of chakra, was bleeding from several deep cuts. She didn’t even have enough chakra left to heal them. Mitsuki administered his last vial of antidote. She too had one left.

From the corner of her field of sight, Himawari saw a spere made out of pure chakra flying towards Mitsuki and Sarada. A two-in-one blow. But this wasn’t normal chakra. This was the chakra that had taken out her brother and Shikadai. She knew this blow would kill the both of them. Mitsuki because he didn’t have the medical skill required to heal from a wound this severe and Sarada because she just didn’t have enough chakra left. And even if she had, she still wouldn’t have the skill to give her the best chance of survival. But Himawari had both. She made a decision without thinking about it twice, making her way towards her friends, hoping she would make it in time. She excreted some of her chakra, just enough to go unnoticed by their opponents, but enough to change the trajectory of the spear. She had a rough idea of where the spear would hit her and she focused her chakra in that area, already starting to heal the damage that wasn’t there yet. She prepared her body for the Flying Raging and made sure that the moment they arrived in Konoha, she would be able to completely shut of her chakra network. She just hoped it would be enough.

She made it just in time. Himawari turned around, facing the projectile as it quickly came closer. She felt a sharp pain as the spear entered her stomach, ripping through multiple of her organs. Himawari coughed up a bit of blood, fighting the urge to lose consciousness. Her job wasn’t finished yet. She still had to bring everyone home. She focused every bit of chakra she could miss towards her wound, desperately trying to heal the damage enough for her to bring her friends back to safety, while simultaneously jamming her last dose of antidote into her body. The antidote probably wouldn’t help that much, but she had multiple cuts as well and Himawari wanted to give herself as much chance to survive as she possibly could. The world was spinning around her as Himawari extended her hands, grapping both Sarada and Mitsuki and teleporting them to safety. She saw one final glimpse of Shikamaru’s shocked face before she shut herself down and everything went black.

* * *


	12. Recovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading

“Will she make it?” Himawari recognized the voice, but was unable to put a face to it in her barely conscious state.

“She’s strong and she took every precaution she could. She gave herself the best chances possible, but her wounds are severe. It could go either direction.” Himawari also recognized this soft, feminine voice, that came closer to her as she spoke.

A wave of relief came over Himawari as the woman did something. Pain left her body and the tenseness surrounding the left side of her stomach slowly became lighter.

“What about the other’s?”

“Sasuke will be fine, he had only minor injuries and already went home with Sarada. She’ll need some time to heal from all of her injuries, but it’s nothing life-threatening so I allowed her to go home. The familiar environment as well as the time she can spend with her dad will help her heal faster, I think.” A small chuckle followed this statement, before the woman continued filling in the man: “As for Mitsuki, he was barely injured and left the hospital the same day, although he returns every day to check on Boruto. I think Boruto will be able to go home one of these days as well. That final hit was hard, but all of the damage that could possibly harm his life, has been healed and he just has to recover from his minor injuries and the blow to his ego. He was lucky that his chakra system had been shut down before the poisonous chakra could damage him even more.”

This statement unlocked a chuckle from the man, confirming the statement to be true. The man didn’t ask for more information about the poisonous chakra and Himawari couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed by that, as she wanted to know more.

“What about Shikadai?”

“It’s him, alongside Himawari I’m worried about. He was hit by the same chakra as Himawari, but while Himawari was able to neutralize that chakra due to her knowledge of the chakra system and her training with the Hyuga, Shikadai wasn’t. Himawari did turn of his chakra system and infested him with her own chakra, which saved his life, but he suffered from that poisonous chakra for a significantly longer time than Boruto. I’ve asked Hanabi to come and take a look at him, in the hope that she can somehow continue what Himawari has started and stop this process taking place. Shikadai’s blow must have been extremely severe, as the chakra is still poisoning him… It’s eating away his own chakra and preventing him from healing. If this continues, he will die…”

Himawari didn’t hear the rest of the conversation anymore as she once again lost consciousness.

* * *

Sarada was sitting at the edge of the lake, watching the sun as it was setting. She was still healing from the many cuts and bruises she got during the fight a couple of days ago, but she knew that healing from her mental wounds would be a much harder battle. She had seen her best friend willingly sacrifice herself for her and Mitsuki’s sake. Sarada blinked away the tears forming in her eyes. She hadn’t been able to bring herself to visit the young Uzumaki, which was another thing Sarada couldn’t forgive herself for.

“Sarada?” She quickly tried to hide away all her feelings and put a forced smile on her face as she turned around to meet the gaze of the Seventh Hokage. His eyes softened at her sight and Sarada felt she was unable to keep up her walls, bursting into tears. Naruto took her in a tight hug, letting her cry on his shoulder for a little while.

“I’m so sorry! This was all my fault!” Sarada cried as soon as she found her voice again. Naruto squished her even tighter, making a shushing sound.

“It was not. Himawari is many things, you know, but stupid isn’t one of them. She knew what she was doing and she knew what the consequences of her actions would be, but she still did what she did. And do you know why?” Sarada shook her head, not being able to push out another word. “Because she cares about you. And because she knew that she was the only one that had _any_ chance of surviving that blow. You didn’t.”

“I would have had. If I had just had enough chakra left to heal myself.”

“You wouldn’t have. Even if you had enough chakra.”

“What do you mean?”

“The chakra works as a type of poison. The only reason Himawari survived is because of her knowledge of the chakra-network. She managed to neutralize it’s most dangerous effects before even starting to heal her massive injuries. Even if you had been able to figure out what that chakra was capable of, you still wouldn’t have made it as it eats away your own chakra at a rapid rate.”

“But what about Shikadai? He’s alive! And he got hit by that chakra too!”

“He got hit by an external hit, unlike Himawari’s internal one. The effects of his blow were less severe than from Himawari’s, but were still there. He too got very sick and it was only because Himawari discovered the chakra was poisonous and wiped out his entire chakra system that he even made it into the hospital. And he was also lucky Sakura picked up on that as well so that she could plan an appropriate treatment that was able to safe him.”

“Shutting down someone’s entire chakra network is dangerous… That could end up killing the person, especially when he or she is in a weakened stage…” Sarada looked at Naruto, her black eyes wide in surprise and panic from hearing this news.

“That’s why we asked the Hyuga clan to help us out. It’s their specialty after all.” Sarada sighed out off relief, glad her two friends would make it.

“You know, Sarada, I once went through a rather similar illness… At some point, Kurama’s chakra became toxic for me and I was dying. Luckily for me, your mom and dad found a cure in time. So really, I had no doubt Sakura-chan would be able to figure something out this time as well.” Naruto was gazing at the sunset. Sarada looked at him in surprise. She had never known Naruto had been sick, let alone dying. She couldn’t believe that the most powerful man on this planet had almost been killed by the biggest source of his power: the nine-tailed fox. “And Sarada?” She pulled up one of her eyebrows, waiting for him to continue: “I think you should visit Himawari, I’m sure she would like that.” And with that final statement, the Seventh got up and left her alone.


	13. Something blossoms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did say it would be a bit of a romance story, so the next few chapters will be calm on the fighting side, and more about developing the relationship between Shikadai and Himawari. Enjoy

Himawari let out a groan. Today is the day she would be able to leave the hospital, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t feeling the effects of the battle anymore. She pushed herself out of bed, slipping into her hospital slippers. She wanted to pay a visit to Shikadai, who would have to stay in the hospital for a bit longer, considering the toxic effect of the Ôtsutsuki’s chakra hadn’t entirely left his body yet.

Slowly, she made her way towards his room, which was at the end of the same hallway she had her room in. When she arrived, she stood in front of his door for a few moments, gathering up all the courage she had left. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door, waiting in front of it until his soft voice told her to come in.

“Himawari?” His face lit up at the sight of her. He was looking much better than the last time she had seen him, right before Naruto had teleported him back to the village. The color on his cheeks was prove off his increasing health. A smile broke out on Himawari’s face. Shikadai patted on a spot next to him on his bed. She shyly walked over to him.

The moment she came into armlength from him, he surprised her by throwing his arms around her and pulling her into a warm and comforting hug, causing her to faceplant onto him and filling her body with butterflies. Himawari felt how her cheeks heated up by this sudden sign of affection. Shikadai held her tightly, as she buried her face into his neck, closing her eyes.

The hug ended too quickly and Himawari wished she could burry her face into his neck for a little longer. Instead, she installed herself closely next to the boy on his bed. She barely noticed how one of his arms was still comfortably resting behind her back, holding her into an sideways embrace and preventing her from leaving the bed.

Shikadai looked at her, his deep green eyes filled with joy and something else: “What brings you here, Hima?” He said, his voice barely more than a whisper. Himawari felt her cheeks heat up again at the sound of her nickname coming from him and the fact that she didn’t really have a reason for visiting him. She looked in his eyes. Those beautiful eyes that were telling her so many things…

“Euhm… I just wanted to see you…” Her face was entirely red now, she could feel it. She looked at the ground, purposefully avoiding the Nara’s gaze. Shikadai’s soft finger guided her head towards him, forcing her to look at him once again. She suddenly became aware of how close they were. But she didn’t mind. She was feeling all kinds of things and noticed how she felt _excited_ to be so close to Shikadai.

“I’m glad you came” he said in a husky voice, which made her warm inside. The two of them looked at each other for a little while longer, neither of them being able to move, both completely bedazzled by each other. The tension between them was unbelievable and Himawari’s blue eyes were trapped by Shikadai’s green ones. She parted her lips.

Just as she thought nothing would happen anymore, Shikadai smashed his lips onto hers, with a hunger and passion that she had never seen in him. He claimed her mouth with ease and butterflies once again filled her stomach as Shikadai passionately kissed her. She closed her eyes, fully enjoying the moment. It didn’t take long before Shikadai’s tongue demanded her to open her mouth and let him in. She let her tongue explore Shikadai’s and she felt how the connection between them grew stronger with each passing second. A burning passion came over her and she forgot everything surrounding them. It was just Shikadai and her.

Himawari shifted position, climbing on top of Shikadai. He confidently grabbed her waist and positioned her in a more comfortable position on his lap, deepening their kiss even more. He let go of her mouth and kissed her in her neck, hitting a sensitive spot she didn’t even know she had. She let out a soft moan, exciting Shikadai even more, who continued to explore her body with his mouth and his hands. Shivers of excitement ran over Himawari’s spine.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps approaching the door. Shikadai let out a frustrated groan, giving her one last passionate kiss, before carefully helping her of the bed and into the chair next to it. A soft knock sounded and Himawari quickly rearranged her clothes and hair, trying to hide the evidence of the passionate time she had just shared with Shikadai. Moments later, Sakura entered the room. As soon as she saw the two of them, one of her eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“Himawari! What a pleasure to see you here! I was going to stop by your room later to tell you that you can leave the hospital whenever you’re ready, but I’ll just tell you now. Shikadai… Were going to do some final tests. You’ll probably be able to go home somewhere this week as well.”

Himawari quickly got up from the chair, the soreness of the battle rushing back at her, as she hurried out the room. Sakura gave her a knowing wink as Himawari passed her, turning her face tomato-red once again.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed!


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